28 User Reviews of Lirica Cruise Ship

This was our 4th cruise all taken within 2 years. Previous
cruise were all on Princess.

We booked this cruise in early July and booked an inside
guarantee. We were pleasantly surprised when we were checking in
and found we had been upgraded to a balcony, which they call a
suite. We have been in either a balcony or suite and from what I
understand no other line would have called this cabin a suite. The
bathroom had a tub, which was very nice but a bit hard to get out
of as it was very tall.

Our ports were: San Juan, St. Maarten, Grenada, Barbados, St.
Lucia, Tortola and Cayo Levantado. We took ship excursions in San
Juan, St Maarten and Grenada. They were handled very well. MSC
worked at making sure that people who spoke different languages had
their own tour bus and guide. We took our own tours in Barbados,
St. Lucia and Tortola. We had very good drivers/guides on
these.

As for Cayo Levantado there was supposed to be a $19 pp charge
for the tender to the island but MSC did drop this, most likely
because very few

had signed up. There was still a charge for the buffet on Cayo
Levantado but I believe this was due to the ship not doing the
buffet but having the hotel on the island providing it. We only saw
one couple actually eating.

The passengers were a mix of Americans, Canadians, Britons,
Germans, French and Italians. And while it is true that
announcements are made in 5 languages the announcement are few and
far between.

MSC has instituted the Art auction and the Inch of Gold but
neither intruded on the impact of the cruise. They only have one
deck that has the shops and the sales people are not pushing you to
buy.

The one thing that really stood out for as being different on
MSC was the entertainment and animation group.

While MSC is trying to bring in Americans the entertainment was
very Italian, not even European (according to the British friends
we made). I think they need to make some changes there. They could
also do with turning down the volume on the music.

Also the animation group was all Italian and most times it was
very hard to understand what they were saying in English. It would
not hurt if they had a couple of these people whom English is their
first language.

We heard many people complain about the food but really the only
complaint we had about the food was that in a lot of items did not
have much taste, very bland. It seems that the only items with a
lot of flavor were the seafood salads and the soups. But we
definitely did not starve.

The ship was very pretty and the Christmas decoration they put
up were very nice and not over done. Most lounges and the dining
rooms all had a Christmas tree and each was decorated a bit
different from the next.

There were a few children on board and did not see any problems
with any even though the hours of the children’s club were
very short.

The dress code for the cruise was 3 formal nights and the rest
casual. Most passengers followed but of course some did not. This
definitely did not detour for from our enjoyment.

Over all we enjoyed the cruise and most likely would cruise with
MSC again.

This was the first cruise that I went on, and I couldn't have
asked for anything more.

The service was impeccable, the cleanliness excellent and the
food was, being Italian Canadian, sometimes as good as our home
cooking. Never better though:) One reviewer was complaining that
they had to buy ice cream. We found that if we went to the sit down
restaurant for lunch, ice cream came with the meal, and therefore
was free. We also found the prices at the stores on the ship to be
exceptionally reasonable, sometimes much less than the price at a
duty free store on land.

There were a few complaints that we had which we also mentioned
to the cruise company and which hopefully, if other readers notice,
will also tell the cruise ship company.

The tours organized by the ship tended to be very expensive and
we found that many times, it was easier and cheaper to hire a taxi
or walk in the various ports of call. The price of alcohol on the
ship was also prohibitive, although many guests appeared to have
somehow procured their own drinks (nudge nudge, wink wink).

This may only be with our table, but we found the snobbishness of
the Maitre'D and the table manager to be quite offensive, although
the rest of the restaurant staff went out of their way to make our
meals enjoyable.

In addition, if you are a younger traveller (under 30), you may
find that, atleast on our cruise, there are not a lot of young
people, although a lot of the staff are young and fun to talk
with.

Finally, if you are like us and like to enjoy peace and quiet,
head to the back of the ship to the Blue Lounge and the deck behind
there. Although there are activities going on constantly near the
pool, the back of the ship is quiet and you can enjoy the beautiful
view and take in the rays of the sun. The fact that the rooms were
a little small was actually nice, as we were forced to leave the
rooms and meet many of our fellow passengers

.

We did hear some of the other passengers complaining, but they,
as the stereotype goes, appeared to be consistently cut of a
certain stripe, and I am sure they would probably never be fully
satisfied with anything.

I would definitelty recommend this cruise to anyone especially
if you enjoy a more meditteranean atmosphere.

As seasoned cruisers, 25 plus cruises on 8 or 9 lines, we
decided to try an out of the ordinary,nonpredictible,adventure with
a cruise line touted as a different approach than previously sailed
with lines. What an experience! I can best sum up this 11 day port
hoping in the carribean as "The Cruise from Hell"!

The food was terrible, surpassed only by the snobish service
staff at all levels. Obvious distain for American guests was
evident everywhere. I declined the auto-gratuity encouraged by the
ship & tipped well only my cabin stewardness who provided the
TLC that we were accustomed to on previous voyages. I would
certainly never consider ever cruising with this line again even
with a full "comp" If bargain cruising is a factor in choosing a
water filled vacation buy or rent a truck tube & float down the
Rio Grande for 11 days. You`ll have more fun & the soggy ham
sandwiches will be gormet delights in comparison to the slop served
by rude waiters on the "Lirica".

Not a bad experience but not a great one either. the deck chairs
were horrific...no way built for comfort; the casino machines
didn't work well at all, though the staff there was superb. food
was fair, and i'm italian heritage. the excursions to the islands
started way early, and some like to st maartens were only 5 hour
layover. waiter at dinner didn't really understand much of what me
and fellow tablemates asked, though he was nice enough. rooms i
found tiny though well kept. alternative to formal dining was
minimal-pizza and hamburgers. library was open for 2 hours a day
even though most of the books were probably left overs from
previous travellers. probably wouldn't go on msc again.

Ship Lirica was extremely clean, food was good, entertainment
was good, service excellent. Would definitely cruise this line
again.

Outside Deck doors did not have functioning "anti-slam" closures
and unfortunately I crushed my finger and had the top joint
surgically removed in Jamaica. I continued the cruise. The cruise
doctors were helpful, but didn't follow up with me after the
operation. I guess they figured I survived and that was all that
mattered???

BE CAREFUL when entering the ship's outside deck doors from
outside under windy conditions as they are apt to slam.

I did write the cruise line and suggested they check and/or
install anti-slam equipment, and it would be interesting to know if
anything has transpired. If anyone has info about that, please
post.

This cruise was only adequete. Lirica was spotlessly clean. Food
was poor, esspecially in the resteraunt, which was hit and miss.
Our waiters were were very nice but spoke only Indonesian so not
one night did they get out order correct, steak instead of fish
etc, only 3 choices for main coarse. Our head waiter was a total
idiot, he pretended he spoke no english but we heard him speaking
perfect english to Americans, kept bringing a silly Plastic Chicken
& a pen that gave an electric shock (if you have a pacemaker,
watch out).

Food on the deck grill was often cold and the lunchtime buffet
was always the same, not a potatoe in sight. Salads were good.
Entertainment sometimes was only OK but Italian classical singers
were first class. Cabins and staff, can't fault also reception
couldn't have been more helpful inspite of very rude & ignorant
passengers, they did all they could for us, as Briish Airways had
failed to deliver our bags to Miami, they arrived home 7 days after
cruise (avoid BA at any cost, they have refused to give us any
compensation) Can't pass opinion on

Ports, we could not go ashore with unsuitable clothing, retail shop
poorly stocked, OK if you are a lady below size 10 and men under 34
waist. Prices over the top.

Bars were good with plenty of choice of Beers and spirits, wines
were pricey.

I recently was able to join a friend, last minute, on an 11 day
cruise aboard the MSC CROCIERE Italian cruise ship. After reading
some pretty negative reviews (after booking) I was a bit concerned.
I am not sure if those folks were aboard the same ship but my
experience overall was 5 star. The crew, from the director
(Andreas) to our cabin attendant (Thierry) to the wonderful hostess
in the Lord Nelson (Maria)were all exceptional.

The dining room was fabulous with decent food, lots of choices,
including a great selection of healthy items and the servers were
awesome. Each evening there was really good entertainment The ports
were all gorgeous and the time allotted was just perfect. The only
complaint I would offer is the price of the ship tours, of which we
took none. We just hired privately and it was about 1/3 to 1/2 of
the cost. I would highly recommend this cruise line.

What a great time we had on this beautiful two-year-old ship!
MSC was a different experience for us and we loved it. Everything I
had read prior to sailing on the Lirica was mixed, so I want to
give you a good feel for our experience -- albeit from our
perspective.

We started cruising in the mid-1980s and are veterans of 27
cruises on most major lines. We have cruised with Commodore,
Premier, RCCL, Costa, Carnival, NCL, HAL, Celebrity and Princess --
some many times -- and we truly enjoy cruising. We lived in Naples,
Florida for 10 years and cruised several times a year since the
ports were so easy to access. We love good food, and we were
especially looking for something different from the normal
mass-market cruise this time. Since we now live in Chicago and have
to fly to the port, we wanted to book a longer cruise and one we
thought we would really enjoy, since we aren't cruising so many
times in a year now.

The Cabin After researching MSC we decided that the
international flavor of the line, the size of the ship and its

age would all be pluses. We booked about two months out, an inside
guaranteed cabin. Our documents arrived about two weeks prior to
departure and our cabin wasn't assigned at the time. A day before
we were to leave, I called the travel agency and was given our
cabin assignment -- it turned out to be an inside cabin, but an
upgrade from what we booked and a handicapped-accessible cabin.
This turned out to be a real plus because the cabin was about twice
the size of a normal one, and the bathroom had no ledges and a huge
shower. The cabin was on Deck 9 forward, perfect for going up or
down.

Cabin 9052's beds were on each side of the room with tons of
closet and storage space as well as a vanity and mini-bar (which we
didn't use). Towels were huge and replenished as needed. Shampoo,
body gel and bubble bath were in the bath, and so was a hair dryer
that was good for short hair. There were not many electrical
outlets, so bring a strip if you need to plug in battery chargers,
etc. This was a very quiet cabin, and we got fresh fruit daily.

The Ship MSC Lirica is a two-year-old ship and the maximum
passenger capacity using all berths is 2,065. Double-occupancy
capacity is 1,560 passengers. The line is the second largest
shipping company in the world; since it branched out into the
passenger cruise business it now has seven cruise ships, with two
more to come. The Lirica was designed for international sailing and
I believe this is her second season in the Caribbean, along with
her sister ship, the Opera. Reviews from passengers have been mixed
but all agree that the ship is beautiful and clean, with a true mix
of passengers from many countries.

The officers are all Italian; so are the upper echelon staff in
the dining room, and the style and flavor of the ship is Italian.
The captain on this voyage was Mattia Manzi and the cruise director
was Andrea Olivieri. The entertainment team that he oversees was
excellent. All the staffers are multilingual. The few announcements
are in five languages, and so is the entertainment. The passengers
on this cruise were from Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Canada,
USA, Great Britain, and other countries. Menus in the dining room
are in different languages to accommodate passengers who do not
speak English.

Embarkation After we arrived at Fort Lauderdale Airport, we took
our time, got some coffee, and then took a cab to the port once we
retrieved our luggage. Since this was an 11-night cruise, we were
sailing on a Thursday and returning on a Monday, so the airport was
not crowded with cruise passengers. Just two other ships were
leaving from Port Everglades that day and we would be the last to
depart. We got to the port about 11:45 a.m., left our bags with the
porters and got a number for boarding. The check-in lines opened at
noon and we were among the first to be processed. The person
checking us in was doing it for the first time, but it went very
smoothly and we were on board in about 15 minutes. We were greeted
by a staff member to lead us to our cabin and were settling in
quickly. A welcome-aboard lunch was being served, but it was
delayed by a surprise inspection. (A footnote: The Lirica has
scored 100 on all inspections; it is probably the cleanest ship we
have ever sailed.)

The Layout We decided to acquaint ourselves with the layout. We
had a great map of the ship and started at the top. There are 13
decks, so we worked our way down. Deck 13 is for sunning forward,
and aft is a miniature golf course. Deck 12 is an additional
sunning deck and also is the walking/running track -- with eight
times around to a mile (by my calculations). Deck 11 has the buffet
restaurant all the way aft, with a grill on the port side and a
pizzeria on the starboard side. Directly in front of that is a bar
and shaded seating area, and forward of that are two beautiful salt
water pools with space for sitting all around. The lounge chairs
had shades on them. Forward was a place to get ice cream (extra
charge) and then the gym, saunas, massage, etc., were all the way
forward. Decks 10, 9, 8 and part of 7 were passenger decks. Decks 6
and 5 are public decks with lounges, restaurants and shops as well
as reception etc. With the exception of Caya Levantado, we
disembarked in each port from Deck 5 forward.

Itinerary The itinerary for this cruise was: two days at sea,
San Juan, St. Maarten, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua, Tortola, Caya
Levantado (private island), day at sea and back to Port Everglades.
We spent a good amount of time in each port; the only one we could
have done without was Grenada. Caya Levantado is absolutely
beautiful -- a small island off the coast of the Dominican Republic
-- and the seas were gently rolling. The day was beautiful -- a
great beach day. Since we have been to all these islands, we were
familiar with them. In the past we explored each of them and found
places we like to return to. We like to shop and enjoyed each port
thoroughly. We always walk into the town; it's great exercise and
usually an easy walk. Our weather was exceptional each day except
the day we were in Grenada, where it rained and we didn't care; we
were only off the ship for about 15 minutes anyway. A number of
excursions were offered in each port but we haven't done those for
many years so I can't comment on them.

There were three formal nights; the others were a combination of
informal and casual. The captain had a welcome aboard party for the
first formal night and another party on the last formal night. Not
everyone adhered to the dress code, but the majority of passengers
did. There were very few children on this cruise; I can't comment
on the facilities for them.

Dining We checked in at the dining room immediately after
settling into our cabin. We had requested late seating, which we
got, and we wanted to request a table for two. The maitre d' was
very gracious in granting our request. We were later told that
early seating was full but late seating was not. Our waiter was
Windia and his assistant was Agus, both from Indonesia. Our table
supervisor was Salvatore. The supervisors and the maitre d' and his
assistants were very visible all the time, and service in the
dining room was excellent. It was also leisurely since it was late
seating, and that suited us very well.

There were certain menu items you could order each night; there
was always a choice of appetizers, soups, a pasta of the day,
choices of main courses and desserts. The portions were very nice
-- not huge -- but if you wanted more than one thing or something
not on the menu, all you had to do was ask. We rated the food
overall as good. My husband had one meal that he had to send back
(a pot roast -- the meat was not acceptable) but other than that,
we had no problems. We tried things we had never had, and we
enjoyed MSC's version of dishes we were familiar with.

We ate only two meals in the buffet (the welcome aboard lunch
and one breakfast); all other meals we ate in the dining rooms. We
were assigned LaBussola dining room for dinner, so we ate breakfast
and lunch in the Ippocampo dining room. Both rooms are beautiful,
and the service was excellent in both. The wait staff was comprised
of Indonesians, Italians, Romanians, and some other nationalities.
The maitre d' and his assistants and most of the table supervisors
were Italian. First seating for dinner was at 5:45 p.m. and second
seating was at 8 p.m. Breakfast in the dining room was served from
7 a.m. to 10 a.m., lunch from noon to 2 p.m. On deck the hours were
a little longer, and there was afternoon tea from 4 to 5 p.m. each
day.

Continental breakfast was offered via cabin service, and there
was a small room service menu available 24 hours a day. Our overall
assessment is that the food is good: Breakfast was great, lunch
very good, and dinner was very good. We found the pasta dishes to
be somewhat bland, but the beef was always prepared to our order
and very tender; the lobster was excellent, as were the soups.
Desserts were good (some great); the baked alaska was some of the
best I ever had.

The Staff We found the crew and officers to be exceptionally
friendly. They always had a smile in greeting you. The
entertainment team was exceptional too. We didn't attend all the
shows so we can't comment on most of them. The entertainment team
had something going on each night on Deck 6, and they were lots of
fun. They were out by the pool during the day. There were food
demonstrations, Italian language classes, dance music for every
taste, some Bingo, an art auction (not well attended), a small
display of Inch of Gold (very unobtrusively). The shops on Deck 5
were nice, very low key. Drinks were not "hawked" on deck or in the
lounges. If you wanted something, all you had to do was ask, but
you were not approached time and again.

Announcements were kept to a minimum -- you were expected to
read your daily program to find out what was going on, and when. It
was very relaxing.

Miscellaneous Some additional items -- there was a $12 per
person tip amount added to your bill each day. You could remove it
if you chose to and tip each person yourself. We did the automatic
tipping and it seemed most people did this. I did see a number of
people giving extra money to their cabin stewardess or steward and
some to the waiters. Tips are automatically figured into drinks on
deck and in the bars. Wine packages can be purchased and glasses of
wine were reasonably priced. On board Internet costs $6 for the
first 10 minutes and 60 cents a minute after that. If you travel
with a laptop, you can buy prepaid packages, and the ship also has
three laptops equipped with Wi-Fi that you can rent. The library
was on the honor system -- you could walk in, take a book and
return it when finished -- and there were books in multiple
languages.

Please feel free to contact me at melnbobkaz@wowway.com if you
have additional questions. We would sail MSC again in a heartbeat.
The feel of the ship, the ambience -- all of it was just great. And
taking a cruise longer than seven days was so nice. Embarkation and
debarkation were a breeze. I tried to learn some basic Italian
prior to cruising, and that was always received well. All in all,
it was a perfect vacation for us.

MSC Cruises MSC Lirica by J ALVAREZ Western Caribbean December
27, 2005 Run, don't walk from this cruise line! While the
looks of the ship are very nice, they offer little else. The
food quality was poor and tasteless. Our wait staff was
excellent and always offered to replace something we did not like.
There is nothing to do on the ship as far as activities and we
found most of the staff not interested in our questions. The
entertainment was average at best and never once was the theater
filled. The officers were not friendly or helpful.

Children on the ship were allowed to roam free and often
unattended. My brother in law had to complain several times
about them running through the halls in the early hours of the
morning. The reception did not seem to care nor responded to
any complaints. We saw children using the slot machines. The
shops were boring and overpriced. The embarkation and debarkation
were both excellent. Housekeeping was the best on any ship I
have been on.

Let me first say I have cruised 4 other times and loved it. Three
times with Celebrity and once with Disney all where very enjoyable.
If this cruise had been my first it definitely would have been my
last because the only redeeming factor about the Lirica is that the
ship is beautiful. Our party of six found the food to be terrible
only surpassed by the horrendous service in all areas. Shore
excursions were rushed and we never seemed to have time to enjoy
the ports. It was not due to the ship leaving as most of the time
we were back at the ship four or more hours before departure. The
crew although hard working always seemed overwhelmed, we waited for
30 mins in some cases to get a drink in the lounge. If you are
considering an MSC cruise all I can say is keep looking there are
much better lines out there.